Department of Business Information Technology

Faculty of Management
http://www.uj.ac.za/bit

Research Project Proposal

To complete this research project proposal process, learners must locate a
supervisor and submit a research proposal detailing the proposed research
project to be undertaken before registering. The purpose of this research
proposal is to help the learner design and plan a research project which the
learner is interested in undertaking and to explain this project to other people.
The proposal should include:
what you plan to do in your research
why this work is necessary or desirable
specifications for how you will do it
a persuasive argument that you are the right person for the position
Your Supervisor will have the expert knowledge about your task, and will be
best able to judge the merits of your objectives and plan of attack.
The evaluators will be less well informed about the background and motivation
of your research, so you will have to provide information that will help them put
the details in perspective.
No two proposals are alike, and there is no general recipe which, if followed to
the letter, will guarantee a good proposal. Most proposals do shareor can
sharea few common structural features, however. These are indicated by the
headings below.
A good proposal includes either a hypothesis (keep in mind that a hypothesis is
not a foregone conclusion but a testable scientific idea) or a problem statement
(a recognized problem in need of a solution). It is important to be realistic about
the impact of your research project. While it may be unlikely that your project
will result in a major breakthrough, indicate how it is a part of a research plan to
address a larger scientific question. Do not repeat sections of your proposal as
it can make reading a proposal difficult. If a point is important, revisit it, but not
in a repetitious manner.
PLAN AHEAD and provide yourself with enough time prior to the
application/proposal deadline to prepare a quality product. Have a friend or
family member read the proposal to determine if it is easily understood, well
written and convincing. Please spell check your final draft and review your final

copy for content and presentation. Use an easily read font like Arial 10 point,
being sure to include space between paragraphs and sections. Meet the
application/proposal deadline as requests for extension of the deadline and/or
failure to meet the deadline may be interpreted as a lack of ability on your part
to get a project completed in a timely fashion.
A good proposal will anticipate and answer questions that an informed (and
somewhat sceptical) person might ask. A proposal of between 5 and 10 pages,
carefully thought out and precisely worded, should be sufficient to make all the
important points.
To get an idea of the end product of such a research undertaking, it is advised
that the learner has a look at completed dissertations and /or theses that are
available in the university library.

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Research Proposal
Full Name & Surname:
Student number:
Qualification:
Email:
Contact Numbers:
(W)
(C)
Supervisor:

1. Project Title
The title should be short but descriptive enough so that anyone reading it would
know what to expect.

2. Introduction
The Introduction supplies sufficient background information to allow the reader
to understand and evaluate the proposal of your work without needing to refer
to previous publications on the topic. Choose references carefully to provide the
most important background information. The following questions should be
addressed in this section:

What is the general technical/application area in which you will be

working? (for example Project Management, Risk Management,
Information Security, E-Commerce, IT management). Reference should
be made to any standards or de facto theories in the area.
What is the general problem that you are trying to solve, and how did the
problem arise? Provide proof that this is indeed a problem by using
references. This should lead to the more detailed problem statement in
the next section.
Why is its solution interesting or worthwhile? What benefits would there
be to solving this problem? What value would it have to the specific
research community, the industry, society, South Africa or the world?
What will be the contribution or significance of your research if it is
successful? How will it contribute to the existing body of knowledge in
this field? Why should anyone be interested in your research?

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In this section you should motivate why this would be a good research project.

3. Review of Literature
In this section you should show where in current literature the problem was first
recognised as well as what serves as the foundation for your research proposal.
The more references you can find that relate to the given problem statement,
the more credibility it will have. This will give the reader an idea whether you
have done your homework and know enough about the topic to start with the
research project. A basic understanding of the field is required. Any
fundamental theories relating to your research proposal should also be stated,
for example, if your research topic is project management, reference should be
made to current standards, best practices and any de facto documents.

4. Project Description
This part of your proposal may include the following:

a. Problem statement
What is the problem for which a solution is being sought? It is very important
that a real-world problem must exists for which there is currently no effective
solution. It should be an academic problem, i.e. one that requires academic
research to be performed. Industry problems seldom make good academic
research problems. Trying to solve a problem a specific organisation is
experiencing has too narrow focus. The problem should be wide enough to
apply to a whole industry. The project goal would be to solve the problem.
If possible, refer to other research that have been done in this area. The
solution must have both academic, social and practical value. End this section
of with a single statement that is the problem statement. Make this statement
bold so that it stands out.

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b. Project scope
A scope statement is a paragraph used to develop and confirm a common
understanding of the project scope. It should include:
a. Research project justification Why are you doing it?
b. Brief description of the research projects products What will the
research deliver, for example a model, framework, method, prototype?
c. Summary of all project outputs (by-products) Apart from the product as
mentioned above, what else will be delivered by the research?
d. Statement of what determines project success How do you know the
research was successful? What will you use as a measure?
e. Exclusions is there anything that is explicitly excluded from the project,
i.e. that you will not look at or take into consideration?
f. Assumptions Do you start the research project using any assumptions
due to a lack of facts?

c. Project objectives
The project scope statement is broken down into several project objectives that
each relate to the project scope. If all the objectives have been met then the
research would have been successful. The objectives will also help you identify
the chapter framework as each objective will be addressed by at least one
chapter. It is important to keep in mind that an objective must be measurable.
It is therefore necessary that show how you will measure whether an objective
has been met or not. You should have at least five objectives.

d. Research approach
The approach refers to the research method that you will use. This has to be a
formal, scientifically recognized method. The questions that should be
answered in this section are:

How will you accomplish your objective? What will you do? Will you
follow a quantitative of qualitative approach? Will be using action
research, phenomenology, grounded theory or another methodology?
Give a brief summary of what this method entails (the process or steps)
and motivate why it is suitable to your research problem?

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What equipment or other resources will you need?

Which of these are inherited, and which will you have to make or
procure?
With what other people or groups will you be collaborating, e.g.
professional bodies, companies, other universities, other departments in
the same university?

e. Project deliverables
What do you aim to deliver at the end of the project? Describe all documents,
for example a dissertation, thesis, articles, conference presentations,
prototypes, programmes, that you intend to hand in.

5. Layout
This section should give a brief outline and short description of the chapters of
the dissertation/thesis. Each chapter should be linked to a research objective.
The following structure might be used:

Chapter 1 Introduction (based on the content of this proposal)

Chapter 2 Background / Overview (summary of literature review)
Chapter 3 Research methodology (explanation and motivation of
research method to be used)
Chapters [n] The body of the research
Chapter [last chapter Conclusion (Show how the objectives were
achieved)
For each chapter, a brief description should be given to explain the
intended content.

6. Project plan
This part of your proposal should contain a month-by-month breakdown of what
you intend to do to achieve your project objectives and milestones. Making a
schedule of the principal activities and events is a good way of showing the
readers that you are taking a systematic approach to planning your work. You
need to take into consideration times that you will not be able to work on your
research, for example holidays or other commitments. The project plan should

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also include activities such as proof reading of your final document, writing
articles and putting the whole document together.

7. Limitations or constraints
Document the limitations that could prevent you from successfully completing
this project, for example a lack of reference material or limited access to
required resources. Another constraint might be the amount time you have
available to do research.

8. List of references / sources

A List of resources and links you will use and why they will benefit your
research. List all pertinent papers or reports that you have consulted to prepare
your proposal. Also list all relevant standards or de facto documents for the field
you are going to do research in. Are there any ISO, BS or SABS standards? It
is suggested that you use the Harvard referencing technique as you will have to
use it for the rest of your research project.

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References for Research

Some references you might want to look at before starting to write your
proposal are:
1. Basic research methods
http://www.mapnp.org/library/research/research.htm
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/tutorial.htm
2. Proposal writing
http://john.regehr.org/reading_list/proposal.html
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/tse-portal/proposal/dan-ryan-proposal/propweb.htm
3. Writing a dissertation / thesis
http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html
http://www.tele.sunyit.edu/ThesisHandbook.html
4. Referencing
http://general.uj.ac.za/library/lidi/ujlic/Reference_Techniques.pdf
http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/tipsonreferences.html
http://lis.newport.ac.uk/sz/publications/Harvard_referencing.pdf
5. General academic writing
http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/tipsonwriting.html
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/advise.html
6. What is expected from you
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html
7. Doing research
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mleone/web/how-to.html
http://www.kyvl.org/html/tutorial/research/

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